Which is best between the Swarovski EL 8.5x42 and the Zeiss FL T* 8x42 for an eyeglasses wearer for hunting purposes? Hunting conditions include hunting from treestands in dark hardwood forests to hunting open conifer forests interspersed with meadows at ~10,000' elevation, both from 1 hour before sunrise to 1 hour after sunset (or whatever is the local legal limit.

The Swaro has a claimed 18mm of eye relief compared to the Zeiss' 16mm, which would suggest that the Swaro is the better choice for us eyeglasses wearers. However, I've noticed a few websites comment that the Zeiss is the best for use with eyeglasses.

I don't know much about the eye glass situtation for your purpose. I can tell you that Swarovski has the best customer service of the two by far and they will fix most anything that is wrong with them other then you running over them or any man made problems and Swarovski does have the best resell value of the two. I would be interested to know which one you finally end up with. Thanks bird_hunter66

lucznik - I guess your saying that the stated differences in eye reliefs are either over-shadowed by other factors important to eyeglasses wearers, or the actual eye reliefs are closer than the published numbers imply?

lucznik - I guess your saying that the stated differences in eye reliefs are either over-shadowed by other factors important to eyeglasses wearers, or the actual eye reliefs are closer than the published numbers imply?

--twofer

Anythiing above 15mm is sufficient for an eyeglass wearer to get the full field of view. Anything more is unnecessary and in fact, if taken too far (above 19 or so mm) can start to cause "black-outs" which can be terribly annoying.

So, what I'm saying is that there isn't a gnats worth of meaningful difference between the two eye relief figures as they are both within this "ideal" range so; if you can't decide between the two, just flip a coin. It's as good a decision-making tool as anything as related to your question.

I would give the edge to the Zeiss because of the slightly smaller magnification, the larger Exit Pupil 5.25mm vs. 4.94mm, and because of the larger Abbe-Konig prisms, and the use of Fluoride glass. (ALL these factored in TOGETHER)

The difference would be noticable mainly at dawn and dusk.(low light situations)

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